docs: document aqua better (#3234)

docs/dev-tools/backends/aqua.md

@@ -1,8 +1,25 @@
 # Aqua Backend
 
-[Aqua](https://aquaproj.github.io/) tools may be used natively in mise. Aqua is encouraged as a backend for new tools if they
-cannot be used with ubi as aqua tools directly fetch tarballs from the vendor without requiring unsafe
-code execution in a plugin.
+[Aqua](https://aquaproj.github.io/) tools may be used natively in mise. aqua is the ideal backend
+to use for new tools since they don't require plugins, they work on windows, they offer security
+features like cosign/slsa verification in addition to checksums. aqua installs also show more progress
+bars, which is nice.
+
+You do not need to separately install aqua. The aqua CLI is not used in mise at all. What is used is
+the [aqua registry](https://github.com/aquaproj/aqua-registry) which is a bunch of yaml files that get compiled into the mise binary on release.
+Here's an example of one of these files: [`aqua:hashicorp/terraform`](https://github.com/aquaproj/aqua-registry/blob/main/pkgs/hashicorp/terraform/registry.yaml).
+mise has a reimplementation of aqua that knows how to work with these files to install tools.
+
+As of this writing, aqua is relatively new to mise and because a lot of tools are being converted from
+asdf to aqua, there may be some configuration in aqua tools that need to be tightened up. I put some
+common issues below and would strongly recommend contributing changes back to the aqua registry if you
+notice problems. The maintainer is super responsive and great to work with.
+
+If all else fails, you can disable aqua entirely with [`MISE_DISABLE_BACKENDS=aqua`](/configuration/settings.html#disable_backends).
+
+Currently aqua plugins don't support setting environment variables or doing more than simply downloading
+binaries though (and I'm not sure this functionality would ever get added), so some tools will likely
+always require plugins like asdf/vfox.
 
 The code for this is inside the mise repository at [`./src/backend/aqua.rs`](https://github.com/jdx/mise/blob/main/src/backend/aqua.rs).
 
@@ -32,3 +49,31 @@ to use the aqua backend. To see these tools, run `mise registry | grep aqua:`.
 import Settings from '/components/settings.vue';
 </script>
 <Settings child="aqua" :level="3" />
+
+## Common aqua issues
+
+Here's some common issues I've seen when working with aqua tools.
+
+### Supported env missing
+
+The aqua registry defines supported envs for each tool of the os/arch. I've noticed some of these
+are simply missing os/arch combos that are in fact supported—possibly because it was added after
+the registry was created for that tool.
+
+The fix is simple, just edit the `supported_envs` section of `registry.yaml` for the tool in question.
+
+### Using `version_filter` instead of `version_prefix`
+
+This is a weird one that doesn't causes weird issues in mise. In general in mise we like versions like
+`1.2.3` with no decoration like `v1.2.3` or `cli-v1.2.3`. This consistency not only makes `mise.toml`
+cleaner but, it also helps make things like `mise up` function right because it's able to parse it as
+semver without dealing with a bunch of edge-cases.
+
+Really if you notice aqua tools are giving you versions that aren't simple triplets, it's worth fixing.
+
+One common thing I've seen is registries using a `version_filter` expression like `Version startsWith "Version startsWith "atlascli/""`.
+
+This ultimately causes the version to be `atlascli/1.2.3` which is not what we want. The fix is to use
+`version_prefix` instead of `version_filter` and just put the prefix in the `version_prefix` field.
+In this example, it would be `atlascli/`. mise will automatically strip this out and add it back in,
+which it can't do with `version_filter`.

docs/dev-tools/backends/asdf.md

@@ -1,25 +1,12 @@
 # asdf Backend
 
-asdf is the original backend for mise. It's the default if no backend is specified,
-e.g.: `mise i ripgrep` will use [asdf](https://gitlab.com/wt0f/asdf-ripgrep) but `mise i cargo:ripgrep`
-will use the [cargo](./cargo) backend. You can explicitly specify the asdf backend with `mise i asdf:ripgrep`.
-If you wish.
-
-If choosing a backend to integrate a tool into mise, it's discouraged to use the asdf backend. ubi
-would be the ideal choice if it can work as a single binary, otherwise aqua would be the next best choice
-since it requires minimal configuration and doesn't require executing code in a plugin. Generally
-vfox plugins can handle anything an asdf plugin might need to do while also being potentially able
-to support windows.
-
-There are [hundreds of plugins](https://github.com/mise-plugins/registry) available in the
-[mise registry](https://github.com/mise-plugins) and you can also install plugins from git
-repos or local directories.
-
-::: warning
-Take care using plugins as well as anything else you get from the internet. CLIs are
-unfortunately capable of doing a lot of damage to your system if a bad actor manages to
-get into your system through a plugin or other tool.
-:::
+asdf is the original backend for mise. It relies on asdf plugins for each tool. asdf plugins are
+more risky to use because they're typically written by a single developer unrelated to the tool vendor
+they also do not function on Windows.
+Because of the extra complexity of asdf tools and security concerns we are actively moving tools in
+the registry away from asdf where possible to backends like aqua and ubi which don't require plugins.
+That said, not all tools can function with ubi/aqua if they have a unique installation process or
+need to set env vars other than PATH.
 
 ## Writing asdf plugins for mise
 

docs/dev-tools/backends/ubi.md

@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 # Ubi Backend
 
 You may install GitHub Releases and URL packages directly using [ubi](https://github.com/houseabsolute/ubi) backend. ubi is directly compiled into
-the mise codebase so it does not need to be installed separately to be used. ubi is the preferred backend when it functions for tools as it is the
-simplest and requires minimal configuration.
+the mise codebase so it does not need to be installed separately to be used. ubi is preferred over
+asdf/vfox for new tools since it doesn't require a plugin, supports Windows, and is really easy to use.
+
+ubi doesn't require plugins or even any configuration for each tool. What it does is try to deduce what
+the proper binary/tarball is from GitHub releases and downloads the right one. As long as the vendor
+uses a somewhat standard labeling scheme for their releases, ubi should be able to figure it out.
 
 The code for this is inside of the mise repository at [`./src/backend/ubi.rs`](https://github.com/jdx/mise/blob/main/src/backend/ubi.rs).
 
@@ -59,3 +63,56 @@ then this will be ignored.
 - **GitHub shorthand for latest release version:** `ubi:goreleaser/goreleaser`
 - **GitHub shorthand for specific release version:** `ubi:goreleaser/goreleaser@1.25.1`
 - **URL syntax:** `ubi:https://github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser/releases/download/v1.16.2/goreleaser_Darwin_arm64.tar.gz`
+
+## Troubleshooting ubi
+
+### `ubi` resolver can't find os/arch
+
+Sometimes vendors use strange formats for their releases that ubi can't figure out, possibly for a
+specific os/arch combination. For example this recently happend in [this ticket](https://github.com/houseabsolute/ubi/issues/79) because a vendor used
+"mac" instead of the more common "macos" or "darwin" tags.
+
+Try using ubi by itself to see if the issue is related to mise or ubi:
+
+```sh
+ubi -p jdx/mise
+./bin/mise -v # yes this technically means you could do `mise use ubi:jdx/mise` though I don't know why you would
+```
+
+### `ubi` picks the wrong tarball
+
+Another issue is that a GitHub release may have a bunch of tarballs, some that don't contain the CLI
+you want, you can use the `matching` field in order to specify a string to match against the release.
+
+```sh
+mise use ubi:tamasfe/taplo[matching=full]
+# or with ubi directly
+ubi -p tamasfe/taplo -m full
+```
+
+### `ubi` can't find the binary in the tarball
+
+ubi assumes that the repo name is the same as the binary name, however that is often not the case.
+For example, BurntSushi/ripgrep gives us a binary named `rg` not `ripgrep`. In this case, you can
+specify the binary name with the `exe` field:
+
+```sh
+mise use ubi:BurntSushi/ripgrep[exe=rg]
+# or with ubi directly
+ubi -p BurntSushi/ripgrep -e rg
+```
+
+### `ubi` uses weird versions
+
+This issue is actually with mise and not with ubi. mise needs to be able to list the available versions
+of the tools so that "latest" points to whatever is the actual latest release of the CLI. What sometimes
+happens is vendors will have GitHub releases for unrelated things. For example, `cargo-bins/cargo-binstall`
+is the repo for cargo-binstall, however it has a bunch of releases for unrelated CLIs that are not
+cargo-binstall. We need to filter these out and that can be specified with the `tag_regex` tool option:
+
+```sh
+mise use 'ubi:cargo-bins/cargo-binstall[tag_regex=^\d+\.]'
+```
+
+Now when running `mise ls-remote ubi:cargo-bins/cargo-binstall[tag_regex=^\d+\.]` you should only see
+versions starting with a number. Note that this command is cached so you likely will need to run `mise cache clear` first.

docs/registry.md

@@ -4,6 +4,22 @@ editLink: false
 
 # Registry
 
+In general, the preferred backend to use for new tools is the following:
+
+- [aqua](./dev-tools/backends/aqua.html) - offers the most features and security while not requiring plugins
+- [ubi](./dev-tools/backends/ubi.html) - very simple to use
+- [pipx](./dev-tools/backends/pipx.html) - only for python tools, requires python to be installed but this generally would always be the case for python tools
+- [npm](./dev-tools/backends/npm.html) - only for node tools, requires node to be installed but this generally would always be the case for node tools
+- [vfox](./dev-tools/backends/vfox.html) - only for tools that have unique installation requirements or need to modify env vars
+- [asdf](./dev-tools/backends/asdf.html) - only for tools that have unique installation requirements or need to modify env vars, doesn't support windows
+- [go](./dev-tools/backends/go.html) - only for go tools, requires go to be installed to compile. Because go tools can be distributed as a single binary, aqua/ubi are definitely preferred.
+- [cargo](./dev-tools/backends/cargo.html) - only for rust tools, requires rust to be installed to compile. Because rust tools can be distributed as a single binary, aqua/ubi are definitely preferred.
+
+However, each tool can define its own priority if it has more than 1 backend it supports. You can disable a backend with `mise settings disable_backends=asdf`.
+And it will be skipped. See [Aliases](/dev-tools/aliases.html) for a way to set a default backend for a tool.
+
+You can also specify the full name for a tool using `mise use aqua:1password/cli` if you want to use a specific backend.
+
 | Short | Full |
 | ----------- | --------------- |
 | 1password | [asdf:NeoHsu/asdf-1password-cli](https://github.com/NeoHsu/asdf-1password-cli) [aqua:1password/cli](https://github.com/1password/cli) |

scripts/render-registry.js

@@ -15,6 +15,22 @@ editLink: false
 ---
 
 # Registry
+
+In general, the preferred backend to use for new tools is the following:
+
+- [aqua](./dev-tools/backends/aqua.html) - offers the most features and security while not requiring plugins
+- [ubi](./dev-tools/backends/ubi.html) - very simple to use
+- [pipx](./dev-tools/backends/pipx.html) - only for python tools, requires python to be installed but this generally would always be the case for python tools
+- [npm](./dev-tools/backends/npm.html) - only for node tools, requires node to be installed but this generally would always be the case for node tools
+- [vfox](./dev-tools/backends/vfox.html) - only for tools that have unique installation requirements or need to modify env vars
+- [asdf](./dev-tools/backends/asdf.html) - only for tools that have unique installation requirements or need to modify env vars, doesn't support windows
+- [go](./dev-tools/backends/go.html) - only for go tools, requires go to be installed to compile. Because go tools can be distributed as a single binary, aqua/ubi are definitely preferred.
+- [cargo](./dev-tools/backends/cargo.html) - only for rust tools, requires rust to be installed to compile. Because rust tools can be distributed as a single binary, aqua/ubi are definitely preferred.
+
+However, each tool can define its own priority if it has more than 1 backend it supports. You can disable a backend with \`mise settings disable_backends=asdf\`.
+And it will be skipped. See [Aliases](/dev-tools/aliases.html) for a way to set a default backend for a tool.
+
+You can also specify the full name for a tool using \`mise use aqua:1password/cli\` if you want to use a specific backend.
 `,
 ];